PTI MNAs to verify pending resignations in person

Shah Mahmood Qureshi to lead 123 PTI MNAs to National Assembly

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers have decided to appear before National Assembly Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf in person on December 22 (Thursday) to verify their resignations which have been lying pending with him despite the lapse of several months and repeated requests from the party leadership to accept them.

The decision comes days after the party wrote a letter to the NA speaker seeking the acceptance of the remaining resignations of PTI lawmakers.

As many as 123 lawmakers – who resigned en masse from NA following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan –  will assemble at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad before heading to the parliament, sources said.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was appointed as parliamentary leader a day earlier, will lead the lawmakers.

Meanwhile, talking to the media in Lahore on Tuesday, PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry also confirmed the development, saying that the party had started its process of MNAs vacating their seats and called on the NA speaker to accept their resignations.

“We want that there are on elections on the same day for the NA and provincial assembly,” he said.

During his address on Dec 17, Imran had also announced that party lawmakers will go to the NA and demand the acceptance of their resignations.

It is pertinent to note that former NA deputy speaker Qasim Sur had accepted the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs. However, the incumbent speaker decided to verify the resignations and only accepted the resignations of 11 lawmakers on July 27.

Later, the PTI challenged the move in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 1. However, the court dismissed the petition and declared that the acceptance of PTI lawmakers’ resignations by the then-deputy speaker was unconstitutional.
Subsequently, the party moved the Supreme Court and requested it to set aside the IHC order, terming it “vague, cursory, and against the law”. The decision is still pending.

Earlier this week, the incumbent NA speaker reiterated that the resignations would not be accepted unless there was clarity that the mass resignation did not take place under any pressure.